The Demon in the Teahouse by Tom Hoobler

Author:Tom Hoobler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, japan, young adult, samurai
Publisher: Tom Hoobler

10: Waiting For the Torturer

Seikei was humiliated. Uncomfortable too, but he told himself that didn’t matter. A samurai must be willing to endure any hardship to serve his master. Judge Ooka had sent him to the teahouse to help solve the mystery of who was setting fires in Edo. Seikei was obliged to follow the path wherever it led.

Right now, it had led him to the courtyard of the local magistrate, Odozo. Seikei had been chained to a post by the doshin and left there for the rest of the night.

No one had listened to his explanation. Even though they should have seen he was trying to put out the fire, the drunken samurai had confused him with the real criminal. The doshin had taken their testimony as the truth. After all, there were three of them against Seikei’s lone voice.

Odozo was not the sort of magistrate who liked to have his sleep disturbed. “You’ll stay there till His Honor is ready to examine you,” the doshin told Seikei. “And if you want him to be lenient, you’d better keep quiet till breakfast.”

“When will that be?” asked Seikei. He wanted to be released as soon as possible so he could look for the person who had set the fire.

The doshin only laughed. Seikei had tried to sleep but was unable to. Hours later, the sun had risen, the roosters had crowed, and birds were flying overhead. As yet, there had been no signs of movement within the magistrate’s house. Nor were there sounds of activity in the street beyond the wall, as there certainly would have been by this time in Edo or Osaka.

At last a door slid open and a face peered out. It was a boy of about nine. He gave Seikei a curious look and then emerged, carrying two nightjars. He emptied the contents into the privy and then addressed Seikei solemnly: “They say you’re the demon.”

“No,” Seikei replied firmly.

The boy looked disappointed. “I hoped you were. I’ve never seen a demon. What did you do, then?”

“Nothing,” said Seikei.

“Oh, that won’t work with Judge Odozo,” the boy replied. “Better confess. He’ll just torture you till you do.”

Seikei knew that indeed many judges did that. But he felt certain that as soon as he was brought before Odozo, the magistrate would recognize him. He, at least, would believe the truth. Afterward, Seikei would give him a report for Judge Ooka on what he’d learned so far.

In a little while the boy brought him a bowl of brown rice and a cup of water. “When does Judge Odozo come to examine the prisoners?” asked Seikei.

“When he feels like it,” replied the boy. “The day starts late here in Yoshiwara.”

That much was true, Seikei thought. Not until the sun had risen high in the sky did anyone else appear. Then two doshin, both holding their jittes as if they expected Seikei to attack, released him from the post he’d been chained to. Leaving his legs shackled together so that he could hardly walk, they took him by the arms and dragged him into the house.

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